Retribution || Narnia OCxOC - thecallofnarnia & NaturallyNarnian

Chapter 1: The Dream of the Daughter

Music, and a song: "Atonement" by Kazuma Jinnouchi

Dawn questioned whether she was asleep or not. In the strange no-man's-land between asleep and awake, in her darkened room, reality seemed simultaneously all too far away and all too close as she saw a figure.

Dawn saw her despite sleeping laid on her side- far away enough that she could see the full, flowing dress and alluring features, but the woman's voice sounded as if it was whispering in her ear.

"Hello, Dawn."

The whisper was soft.

It was a voice of comfort and friendly playfulness- or perhaps feigning it, toying with her, Dawn couldn't tell- and the figure herself was so vivid but so faint, as if she was constantly flowing between an enchanting apparition beckoning to be made whole, and a divine goddess whose hold on reality itself was so absolute that she was simply more real than Dawn.

She was at once both far away and close enough- far away for her flowing, glowing dress, crafted from heaven itself, to be marvelled at, yet somehow close enough for her perfect face to fill Dawn's sight. She had eyes more pretty and blue than the Eastern Sea, her full lips commanded attention at every word she would speak, and Dawn thought she looked like a Goddess.

"Not yet," the woman replied, "but I will be soon. Join me, Dawn. Come to the woods."

At once Dawn heard the goddess, equally beautiful and powerful, both in front of her and right next to her. The commanding voice in front of her said,

"Unlock your full power."

And the sultry voice that bade its enticing tendrils to enter her mind whispered,

"Make me into a true God."

Dawn sat up quickly and blinked. She was scared- she'd wanted to know what was happening and to stop it until she did- but as soon as the figure vanished, she felt saddened. Intrigued, as if she hadn't made the most of the presence.

The Princess sat, awakened to a quiet night, as the moonlight entered and filled her bedroom, and though Dawn saw nothing out of the ordinary, she felt a tug, drawing her to the outside, as though her dream was so powerful it deserved to become real.

She sat upright in her bed, breathing, as if her brain was torn between it was a nightmare she needed to calm down from, or a heavenly fantasy she needed to relax from. The moonlight entering the room finally brought light and peace to her heart, and at last Dawn got out of bed to look up at the stars.

As she approached her own balcony, and the Narnian expanse stretched out as far as she could see, she thought she saw a glint of light catch her eye, in the woods. It glinted again, and as it did, Dawn felt that same tug. She had a single thought, and it simply said:

My road leads into the woods.

——————

Dawn wrapped her arms around herself as the cold night air bit at her and her eyes flickered between the dark, shadow-thronged gaps between trees.

She hadn't bought a lantern, and the leafy canopies that clouded above her now hid much of the moonlight. Still, she continued. She wanted to see the beautiful woman, to hear her voice again...

Soon, a small, lit cabin stood ahead of her. Moonlight had fought through the trees to engulf it, and Dawn hurried forward.

She paused at the door, before pushing it gently. Gingerly, she stepped in, peering around the queer little home. There were so many things she'd never seen, though certain objects she recognised to be similar to things that hidden away in the top Southern Tower.
Magick things. Intrigued, she closed the door behind her.

But still, the plentiful, mysterious books and oddities weren't the main thing that had drawn Dawn in through the door, but the figure that stood across the room.

The magnetic presence had her back to Dawn, admiring various... were those potions?

"Did you know that your mother used to live in a cabin in this exact spot in the woods?"

Dawn shook her head, hardly daring to speak.
It didn't seem like her answer needed to be heard, however.

"It ended up being burned down by Arthur... your mother, Leah, was... foolish to not take him seriously."

Arthur who?
Dawn unconsciously reached just beside her, flaking thin buds from a dried, half-bloomed branch out of nervousness.
She was learning a lot, but just wished she wasn't learning it here, alone with this Witch.

"Did you know that, the day after you were conceived, there was an immense surge of magick, also right in this exact spot? Your mother was... is... so powerful, she brought your father back to life."

She sighed heavily as she raised a glass containing an unknown concoction. "Did you know Arthur died... in this exact spot?" Sorrow reflected through her glass back at her, before she slowly turned to Dawn.

"But then again... you don't know who Arthur even is, do you?"

Dawn snatched her hand back from the disintegrating branch quickly.
"No." She replied quickly and quietly. "I don't know... no."

"I suppose that makes sense. It must be so... difficult for a parent to look their child in the eye..."

She looked at Dawn directly now, and a glint of fury dotted across her ocean eyes.

"...and to tell her that they killed her half-brother."

"I don't believe you." Dawn replied defensively, shaking her head. But under the woman's imploring gaze, Dawn realised that she did believe her.
She didn't like that she believed her.
"Who are you?" Dawn made herself brave enough to ask this. She could no longer ignore that things were growing bigger than just having a secret Witch friend in the woods. She should tell her parents. "What's your name?"

"My name isn't important, what IS is what I can do... what I should be able to do. I can see... feel... grab... trace... and ABSORB... magick itself. For example, it's how I knew that Leah brought David back to life. It's how I knew Susan and Lucy were transformed into demigoddesses by Aphrodite herself... it's how I know David's first wife and the Four were taken from Narnia because of him..."

The woman finally took off her black robe and entered the glow of the firelight. She was stunning, almost as enticing as the goddess in Dawn's dream.

"I know everything."

"What I can do also means that, for example, I can tell you have magick of your own. Does four years ago sound familiar? When you brought people into Narnia without even thinking? Sure, you thought you wanted your father to face your fears, but you never really thought about what else that would do. Since then, I've been watching you."

Dawn only looked at the woman. The atmosphere had warped horribly, and the young Dawn knew that. She'd have taken a step back, but there was something behind her- a chair? A table? She didn't know, but due to it, she suddenly felt trapped.
Simultaneously trapped and drawn to the dazzling woman, who slowly approached Dawn, until they were face to achingly pretty face.

"What I can do also means that I can grab onto your magick as if it's a string, and rip it out of you, putting it into myself. So I can either do that now, or you can help me ascend into Goddesshood without losing your magic."

Dawn definitely felt trapped. Tears pricked her eyes. She wanted to go home.
"I'll help you." She said, lost for what else to tell the to-be-Goddess. "What- what can I do?"

"There is a certain grave that exists not too far from here." The glorious woman's eyes flashed and Dawn immediately knew where it was. "Bring your... incredible father to this grave, alone, tonight. If you do not..."

Her ocean eyes froze over into wrathful icy orbs.

"...the next dream you have will not be so pleasant."

Dawn nodded, showing her understanding, but then fled the cabin.